It's the home of the "419" scam - the infamous online swindle named after a Nigerian anti-fraud law - and it's no secret that this country's international reputation has been tainted by allegations of criminality.

But it's not something Nigerians expected to hear from the mouth of
their president himself, especially while he was on an official visit to the
UK.

In an interview with the Telegraph newspaper, President Muhammadu
Buhari said that Nigerians abroad have "made it difficult for Europeans
and Americans to accept them because of the number of Nigerians in
prisons all over the world accused of drug trafficking or human
trafficking."

"We have an image problem abroad," he said. "And we are on our way to
salvage that. We will encourage our countrymen to stay at home, work
hard and make a respectable living at home."
Nigerians reacted to his remarks by the thousand - with rage, humour and
some insightful self-reflection too.

Opposition senator Ben Bruce-Murray was one of the first to respond,
urging people to get the hashtag #IamANigerianNotACriminal trending.
That hashtag rapidly evolved into the snappier #NigeriansAreNotCriminals
which was used more than 35,000 times in a couple of days. There were
a slew of tweets criticising the president for slandering the reputation of
his own people.

And even more celebrating honest, hard-working Nigerians at home and
abroad.

Including some tweets from the president's political opponents.
It's a thorny issue for Nigerians living abroad who feel they sometimes
have to deal with stricter immigration checks and visa restrictions than
people from other parts of the world. And some who believe they face
heavier oversight and regulation when it comes to working in the banking
and finance sectors because of their nationality.

Nigeria is in the middle of an economic crisis. Dropping oil prices mean
there is less money around for investment and the value of the naira is
falling rapidly.

Some people believe President Buhari's comments may make things worse,
putting off investors from abroad at a time when the country really needs
them.

And Nigerians feel that in many respects the reputation just isn't justified.
According to UK police statistics, shared by Senator Murray-Bruce,
Nigerians in the UK have faced fewer arrests than immigrants from other,
smaller European countries.

Despite the backlash, there was some support for what President Buhari
said. The president has a reputation for plain speaking. He was
voted into power last year , in a mostly fair election, on a
platform of fighting corruption. As an army general in 1984 Buhari
overthrew a civilian government, replacing it with a military dictatorship
and made a promise to stamp out "indiscipline". He was overthrown not
long after. But his reputation survived.

This latest controversy has given Nigerian politicians a chance to do on
social media what they do best, slinging insults and abuse at each other -
as one tweeter shrewdly pointed out in this, a 'tale of two tweets'.
Some are calling this a gaffe but so far the president has made no
effort to backtrack on what he said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-35526652

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